Society's ChildS


Heart - Black

Despicable: Los Angeles city officials seizing tiny houses from homeless

tiny houses, homeless
Escalating their battle to stamp out an unprecedented spread of street encampments, city officials have begun seizing tiny houses from homeless people living on freeway overpasses in South Los Angeles.

Three of the gaily painted wooden houses, which come with solar-powered lights and American flags, were confiscated earlier this month and seven more are planned for impound Thursday, a Bureau of Sanitation spokeswoman said.

Elvis Summers, who built and donated the structures, was out Wednesday with a flat-bed trailer, trying to move houses scattered up and down Harbor Freeway bridges into storage.

"These people are beaten down so hard, you give them any opportunity to be normal, it lifts them up," Summers said.

The houses were removed as part of a street cleanup requested by the office of Councilman Curren Price, who represents the neighborhood, sanitation spokeswoman Elena Stern said.

Comment: This is absolutely shameless. There is really no excuse for such a heartless response - it's clear these officials have no conscience and are simply attempting to make the problem disappear rather than cooperate with those who are actively trying to help these people.

Banning homelessness: Cruel and unusual punishment?


Heart - Black

With 88% animal kill rate? PETA wants to close Guantanamo, turn into animal 'empathy center'

Guantanamo Bay torture center
© H. Darr Beiser/USA TodayRazor wire tops one of the several fences surrounding Camp One of Camp Delta, part of the detention facility holding enemy combatants from the Afghanistan conflict.
What would become of the Guantanamo Bay military prison if President Obama is successful in closing the facility? A prominent animal rights group has a proposal.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent the Obama administration a petition Wednesday, asking it to turn the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center into what it's calling the "Guantanamo Bay Empathy Center."

"As we all know, 'Gitmo' is now associated with torture, violence, and prejudice," wrote PETA president Ingrid Newkirk said in a letter to the State Department special envoy for Guantanamo closure, Lee Wolosky. "We would like to change that impression in the most forward-looking way possible by turning it into an "empathy center" where the values of justice, respect, understanding, and compassion for all beings would be taught."

Comment: Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is a place where some of the most sadistic and cruel acts against human beings have taken place. According to PKA, PETA in Virginia killed 88.3% of the animals it received in 2014. That connection creates an entirely different impression.

See also:


Video

Truth is stranger than fiction dept: 'Idiocracy' has become a documentary - screenwriter Etan Cohen

Idiocracy movie US culture
© Solomon Sloan / YouTube
Idiocracy was a 2006 cult classic that portrayed America's future as a world run by idiots. If you think that sounds awfully familiar, you are not alone. Etan Cohen took to Twitter to admit that he saw parallels between his fiction and our reality.

The comedy sci-fi movie followed a hapless Army librarian and a prostitute who agreed to be suspended in frozen animation for 500 years. When they emerge, they discovered that the world is essentially run by cave men named after corporations and products who live in plastic huts. The politics of 2505 depicted in Idiocracy look more like the beginning of a wrestling match than insightful debate and the country is led by a violence loving, foul mouthed, ignoramus of a president.

Screenwriter Etan Cohen tweet out "I never expected #idiocracy to become a documentary."

Black Magic

Miami woman left in coma after being sadistically beaten by roommate on Valentine's Day

Daniella Jones
© Go Fund MeDanielle Jones is currently in a coma after being attacked on her 23rd birthday.
A woman in Miami is in a coma after allegedly being attacked earlier this week by the roommate she found on Craigslist.

According to a GoFundMe page set up by her family to help defray her hospital costs, Danielle Jones was "bludgeoned, strangled and face mutilated in an attempted murder" on Feb. 14, her 23rd birthday, by her roommate Byron Mitchell, who she had found on Craigslist a week before.

"He beat her to a coma and ventilator support with various face and skull fractures, multiple injuries to include multiple cuts on her face," Jones' mother Aimee Cabo Nikolov told ABC 10 News.

Mitchell, 35, was arrested on Feb. 15 and is being held without bond for attempted murder at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, ABC 10 reports. Police told the outlet Mitchell had confessed to the attack but claimed that he was acting in self-defense.

Miami Police spokesperson Lt. Freddie Cruz told the Miami Herald he did not have details of the attack. "There are conflicting statements, and it's up in the air if there was a relationship between the two," he said.

Jones' family told NBC 6 News they hope the incident will teach others to be more careful in using Craigslist to meet strangers.

"Bringing attention to this and raise some type of awareness for other people to be careful because I can't explain in words how hard it is to see her like this," Kaitlin Cabot, Jones' cousin, said.

"We hold on to hope," Nikolov added. "It's in God's hands, but it's day six and she hasn't woken up."

Miami police could not be reached by People for comment.

Info

Thousands of disillusioned Afghan refugees want to leave Germany and return home

Afghan refugees
© AFP 2016/ CSABA SEGESVARI
Restrictions faced by Afghan refugees in Germany urge them to return to their homeland, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

About one thousand refugees from Afghanistan, residing in Germany, filed applications for voluntary repatriation, Khaama Press Agency reported on Thursday.

According to the agency, the number of Afghans willing to return back home is constantly rising. Afghanistan's embassy in Berlin reported that the number of refugees who want to leave Germany has significantly increased over the last few years.

As reported by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the main reasons for such trend are several restrictions as well as limited opportunities refugees have to face.

Pistol

3 deputies shot, 1 killed, serving eviction notice at home of Occupy Denver activist

Colorado shooting
© KUSAOne deputy has been killed and two other deputies were shot in Bailey, which is located in Park County.
One deputy has been killed and two other deputies were shot in Bailey, which is located in Park County.

The deputy who died, Nate Carrigan, was a 12-year veteran of the Park County Sheriff's Office. The second deputy has life-threatening injuries. This deputy been with Park County for 11 years. The third deputy shot has non-life-threatening injuries. This deputy has been with Park County for 21 years.

Both were taken to St. Anthony Hospital. Park County Sheriff Fred Wegener is at the hospital with the injured deputies. The shooting happened at 9:18 a.m. Wednesday when officers were trying to serve an eviction notice at 36 Iris Drive.

One suspect was shot and killed. Sources tell "9Wants to Know" the name of the man suspected of the shooting was Martin Wirth. He had been going through a lengthy eviction dispute over the property. He was also an Occupy Denver activist.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office says the suspect used a rifle in the shooting. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office is assisting in the incident. At 11 a.m., the JeffCo Sheriff's Department tweeted:
"Our thoughts & prayers are with our brothers & sisters today at the @ParkCounty Sheriff's Office #ThinBlueLine."
Both the Jefferson County Bomb Squad and SWAT Team are on the scene as a precaution. There is no threat to the public.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation Crime Scene Investigators and agents have also responded. Colorado State Patrol are providing backup to the area. There will continue to be a large law-enforcement presence at the scene for the rest of Wednesday. Deputies advise people to avoid the area.

Platte Canyon High School and Fitzsimmons Middle School are on lockdown as a precaution. Both schools are in Bailey off of US 285.

Stormtrooper

Cop kicks innocent man in the head, breaking his jaw and is awarded $230K

dover de cop
Caught on dash cam video kicking a compliant man in the face and breaking his jaw, a police corporal announced his resignation from the department after the city agreed to pay him $230,000 over the next six years. Although the ex-cop is prohibited from returning to work at the Dover Police Department, the agreement does not prevent him from seeking employment with other law enforcement agencies.

In August 2013, Cpl. Thomas Webster of the Dover Police Department was captured on police dash cam video appearing behind Lateef Dickerson and kicking the back of his legs. Ordered to get on the ground, Dickerson began complying with the officers' orders when Cpl. Webster suddenly kicked him in the head without provocation, fracturing his jaw and knocking him unconscious. Initially charged with resisting arrest, the charges against Dickerson were later dropped after reviewing the dash cam footage.

People

Survey shows citizens of the EU & US suspect Turkey is supporting terrorists

Erdogan ISIS
A recent survey carried out in European countries and the United States show that an overwhelming majority of respondents believe Turkey is collaborating with the Daesh terrorist group.

According to Sputnik.Polls, 72 percent of the French public believe that Turkey is turning a blind eye to the operations of Turkish illicit traders who are buying oil from Daesh in Syria.

Over half of Germans (52 percent), 38 percent of Americans and 41 percent of Britons agree that the Turkish authorities might be supporting the illicit oil trade.

Comment: The answer to whether Turkey is supporting terrorism is, by now, a no-brainer!

Further reading:


Clock

California U.S. Customs office receives envelope with suspicious powder; 50 quarantined, 3 sick

Police line
© Reuters
Up to 50 people have been quarantined after an employee opened envelope with a suspicious powdery substance in an United States Customs office in Alameda, California.

A 2:43 pm emergency call was made reporting the employee feeling sick immediately after opening the envelope, KNTV reported.

Two more people also felt sick. Fire officials say their symptoms are not deadly, but the workers are receiving treatment under quarantine, and a HAZMAT crew is on location telling others to stay away from the area.

Fire officials established a "hot zone," an area where safety equipment is required to avoid the risk of infection.

Police Lt. Jill Ottaviano told El Cerrito Patch that some people were eventually allowed to leave the building.

"Once we identify what it is," Alameda Fire Department Spokesman Juan Medrano told the San Francisco Chronicle. "we can figure out how to deal with the substance itself and what levels of decontamination are needed."

Heart - Black

Cold-hearted world: Passengers applaud as 7-year-old boy having allergic reaction removed from plane

boy with allergies removed airplane
7-year-old Giovanni, his mom, Christina Fabian, and dad, George Alvarado
Instead of sightseeing on a ferry, 7-year-old Giovanni, his mom, Christina Fabian, and dad, George Alvarado should have already boarded a flight.

"We were on Flight 171," said Fabian.

But the trip from Bellingham back home to Phoenix was interrupted by Giovanni's allergic reaction. "He began to get very itchy and he was scratching all over. He started to get hives, so we informed the flight attendant who informed us that there's dogs on every flight and just smirked, which minimized his experience for me," said Fabian.

The allergic reaction delayed take off, and soon the family was told they'd have to deboard. "We understood. They helped us off the plane, but as we gathered our stuff the people toward the back of the plane clapped," said Fabian. Giovanni's feelings were crushed by the clapping.

"People who don't have sadness, they don't understand," he said.